Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a "source" (the hardware) that generates the Hyperthermal Neutral Beam. A hyperthermal neutral beam is a beam of translationally energetic neutrals. They can be controlled generally in the energy range of 20 eV&lt;E.sub.K &lt;400 eV while their thermal spread is in the range of 0.1 eV to 2 eV. The "Hyperthermal Neutral Beam Source" comprises several critical and innovated components. A specific example of this source is the Hyperthermal O-beam Source which generates a beam of hyperthermal atomic oxygen. The Hyperthermal O-beam has many important applications in advanced wafer fabrication processes. In the Lithography area, a Directional Hyperthermal O-beam can be used for anisotropic dry development (bi-layer resist scheme as well as Top Surface Imaging in the DUV and EUV exposure range). In the Interconnect area, a Directional Hyperthermal O-beam can be used for anisotropic etching of polymeric low-.kappa. inter-level dielectric. In the Ion-Implant and Interconnect areas, a Divergent Hyperthermal O-beam can be used for stripping heavily cross-linked polymer. Therefore, the Hyperthermal O-beam Source will be used as an example to elaborate this invention.